Google Algorithm Updates
What are they and how can they affect a dentist’s website?
It’s now accepted that a dental practice website is one of the most important vehicles for new patient acquisition, typically falling just behind word-of-mouth recommendation when it comes to gaining new clients. It’s also accepted that a good Google position is critical to this process and every practice principle or dental business manager needs to keep a close eye on just how the search ranking positions are doing.
When a website’s search positions fall away, new patient enquiries will fall away extremely quickly too.
So it’s worth understanding which factors can play a part in how Google determines where your website should be ranked as this will have a significant, material effect on your business. There are many factors which dictate Google ranking positions and, despite what some self-proclaimed dental search “gurus” would have you believe, they are all secret – only Google knows exactly what they are and to what extent each factor plays a part. All we do know is that there are over 200 different ranking signals which Google takes into account when evaluating a website.
However, whilst we cannot be sure exactly how the Google ranking system works, experienced search marketers can get a very good idea of the process through testing, experience and evaluation. At Dental Media we are fortunate enough to manage several hundred dentist websites which gives us a clear insight into what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to improving search ranking.
What is the Google Algorithm?
One of the key elements to be aware of when it comes to Google is that they change their ranking system quite regularly and that these changes are applied in real-time. The net effect of this is that you could see your website at one position in SERPS (search engine results page) one day and then in a different position the next. Whilst many of these changes are subtle and quite small, some of them can be quite dramatic, resulting in large changes in your ranking position. This can be good or bad depending on what Google changed and ultimately how it affected your dental website.
You may have heard the words “Google algorithm” if you take an interest in the search position of your website (which of course you should). This is the underlying set of equations and factors which Google uses to calculate where your website will appear in their results. Whilst Google applies small changes to the algorithm quite frequently, periodically they also make much larger changes which can have a huge effect on the overall search landscape. It was one of these updates, “Penguin” which decimated many dental websites a few years ago, leaving a lot of dentists with no credible web strategy and hugely depleted new patient enquiries. More recently, Google introduced another large change which focused on mobile optimisation – this was actually designed to boost the results of website which are mobile friendly whilst relegating those which are not.
Why does Google make these changes?
Google strives to produce the best quality search results for its users and part of this process is to “weed out” those sites which are trying to “game” the results by using search engine optimisation techniques which are outside of their guidelines. So where they sees spam techniques spreading e.g. lots of poor quality back-links, over-use of keywords etc, they take fast and punitive action to counter it. It is very important to appreciate what this means, if only to ensure that your digital marketing partner isn’t leaving your website open to penalisation by employing risky tactics.
Panda and Penguin – be aware
Unless you are in the SEO business, you probably don’t need to know too much about smaller algorithm updates and iterations as you search engine guy should have these covered.
However, there are two large algorithm elements which all dentists should know about; namely the affectionately titled “Penguin” and “Panda” updates. These have been in place for several years now with “Panda” appearing first in 2011 followed by “Penguin” in early 2012. Both Panda and Penguin are designed to penalise sites which are outside of Google’s quality standards.
Panda (also initially known as “Farmer”) – Panda was introduced to identify and relegate websites which have poor or “thin” content. Initially this took out a lot of articles sites and link farms but then also extended to business websites which were “stuffed” with poor content specifically designed to attract keyword searches.
Penguin – this update was introduced primarily to tackle link spam in the days where lots of low-quality back-links could still get your website into a good ranking position. A couple of well-known dental marketing companies focused on this technique and were caught out badly when the update hit.
Their clients websites were also damaged, many irretrievably, resulting in them having to start afresh with new websites on new domain names. The effects of this are still being felt by many dentists today, 3 years on. Google identified websites which had manipulated their ranking results with lots of low quality back-links and then penalised them accordingly.
What does all of this mean for your practice website?
It is important to understand that SEO can be very risky unless the work you do to promote your website is compliant with Google’s guidelines. Algorithm factors such as Penguin and Panda discussed briefly above, are specifically designed to catch you out if you don’t comply. Unfortunately, many digital marketers still try to use old-fashioned techniques for link-building, keyword “stuffing” etc which can get results quite quickly – but will eventually see your website penalised.
Consequently it is very important that you have a working knowledge of this if only to ask the right questions of your digital marketing partner. Cheap SEO no longer exists as the time needed to get results ethically and within Google’s guidelines is significant. So chances are that if you buy cheap, then you should expect Google to catch up with you at some point. Frankly, the risks are just not worth it.
If you are seeking ethical, proven SEO within Google’s guidelines, please call the Dental Media team on 01332 672548. If you have concerns that your website may have been affected adversely by a Google update, we’ll also be pleased to check and help.